The game of golf is extremely popular throughout the world and is widely played both as a serious athletic endeavor and as a basis primarily for social relationship. Inherently, the game involves self competition wherein the player strives to improve on his anticipated score. In that regard, regular players usually have assigned handicaps based upon their prior play and particularly their most recent scores. Accordingly, in a typical round of golf, a player seeks to score better than would be indicated by his present handicap.
As golf provides a basis for individual competition, relative equality between a group of players is not necessary for a compatible relationship. That is, a foursome of golfers may well have a pleasant and enjoyable game together even though their individual capabilities vary considerably. In spite of the self-competition aspect of golf, the game is frequently enhanced by contest arrangements that normally reflect individual capability or handicap. For example, in the most simple situation, two players might simply compete on the basis of their individual handicaps. Essentially, the contest would reflect a competition between the golfers, each pitted against the other, on the basis of their individual capability, as manifest by their handicaps. Apart from such a direct competitive arrangement, a number of competitive relationships for enhancing the game of golf are widely used and well defined. Such arrangements include team play, nassau arrangements, and press arrangements.
The standard golf course consists of eighteen holes each of which involves the contest of stroking a ball into a cup with the minimum number of strokes. On a given course, each hole is assigned a numerical value, i.e. par, which represents the number of strokes allotted to an expert. Accordingly, the par value is an indicator of the difficulty in playing the hole, i.e. the higher the par value, the more difficult the hole.
Individual players are assigned handicaps based on their individual performance in relation to par. For example, a player might have a handicap of eleven, indicating that on the basis of his recent scores, he is expected to score eleven strokes over par. Generally, as indicated above, arranged contests between players are based upon a consideration of player handicaps. For example, if a player having a handicap of eleven strokes entered a contest with a player having a handicap of fifteen strokes, normally the poorer player would expect to enjoy a four-stroke advantage in the scoring. Regarding the application of such strokes, as the play progresses, they are traditionally allotted or assigned to the holes of greatest difficulty.
Score counting, with the allocation of handicap strokes may become rather complex. The scoring in contests is sometimes further complicated by so-called "press" arrangements which are initialed after play has begun. As a consequence of the various competitive combinations which might be arranged within a group of players, and those which may develop during the course of play, the computations and scoring may become quite complex. The use of the present invention tends to minimize the time and effort which is otherwise required for score keeping and computations to maintain a record and provide the status of various individual contests.
It is recognized that various computer systems previously have been proposed for providing the consequences of different forms of competitive play. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,974,483 (Brunson) discloses a system for computing bowling scores. U.S. Pat. No. 4,031,376 (Corkin) discloses a system for use in the sport of horse racing which is embodied in a small hand-held calculator. Similar forms of structures have been proposed for bridge scoring, as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,130,871 (Olson) and golf scoring as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,142,236 (Martz). However, a need continues for such a convenient form of calculator which incorporates structure not only for providing a golf score but furthermore for calculating and providing the resulsts of various competitive arrangements as specified between individual players of a group. The calculator of the present invention fulfills such a need by utilizing a preprogrammed microprocessor which receives data from a keyboard and stores it in a memory for subsequent retrieval and use. The elements of the system are coupled for operation through the processor which controls the flow of data and commands to accomplish specified manipulations and drive the display. More specifically, the product of the present invention is a special-purpose, hand-held calculator, which incorporates a keyboard, a digital display, electronics, and battery power means integrated with a microprocessor and semiconductor memory which enable the product to be programmed to accomplish the results of commanded instructions specifying golfing data and competitive golf relationships.